IF Seal: Is the start of my game too much like a book?
Hey IF seal. first of all, i love seals so nose boop to you!
Second, I'm working on my first IF and I think it's going really well, the only thing is... I have a hard time trying to fit choices in.
A lot of the time, it feels like I'm just doing page break/next page with a lot of my passages. I'm worried my potential readers will get bored of it since I feel like it reads like a book and not like an interactive game right now.
I have choices for dialogue options that come up and ways to affect the relationship with other characters and even some stat checks/personality builders, but it's like the first maybe 10 pages after character creation is just page break after page break with minimal choices.
I know first impressions are important, and I don't want to scare away readers who want more interactivity, but in the beginning, I feel like I need more exposition and explanation to set my story.
Any advice you could give would be greatly appreciated!
Dear Exposition-Loving Friend,
I am sending a nose boop right back to you!
There is plenty of room for wordiness in interactive narrative, and for kinetic novels as well.
Sometimes a story can benefit from slowing down and savouring the atmosphere like sinking into a nice body of water and enjoying it.For the moment, when you are first drafting, I do not think you need to worry too much about reworking the beginning. It is very easy to get bogged down worrying about that early part, but it is also one of the easiest parts to tweak and reframe.
That said! I wonder whether you actually need as much explanation as you think. Could exposition be sprinkled through the early sections, or even left until later? What are the essentials needed to understand the stakes of a situation, or the world you're writing in? How does the game feel if you include those essentials and allow further details to emerge when they become vital to the player or the PC?
As you progress through writing, if you are finding that the game feels too narrow or players are saying they'd like more choices, I suggest letting go of some control and have a think about what players might like to do in the situation. If you are a tabletop player or watcher, imagine being a DM asking "what do you want to do next?" and see where that leads you.
It can also be helpful to ask the PC "how are you feeling right now about [the essay you're working on] [the curse that has been put on you] [your sibling estrangement] [the upcoming birthday party]" because it both gives the player the chance to express their character, and it also gives you the writer the chance to show that the game is "listening" to them later. Callbacks to the PC's earlier choices, whether they're actions or emotions, are really valuable, and even little touches that don't take much work make a big difference.
You can even combine this with lore exposition, such as explaining "the space station gardens are simulations based on historical documents of a dead planet", then enabling the player character to state things like "I try to walk there every day, it's a break from paperwork" / "It's all fake so what's the point? I always stride past to go to the coffee shop" / "I linger, wondering if they got the smell of the flowers right" / "I'm overcome with sadness for a moment, knowing all this is gone" / "I brush my fingers along the screen, feeling like I'm in touch with ancient life".
All of this helps players feel in touch with their character, and like their character is a part of the world and acting within it.
I hope this is helpful, Exposition-Loving Friend! May you have fun with your choices and setpieces alike!